Hunter in the Woods  Carmine's Tale
by Honeybadgerz
Summary: The story of Carmine, the hunter in the woods. He has lived there for nearly 10 years, living in grief of what happened many years ago, yearning to finally break free of what's holding him to this forest...


Pre-story notes:

Carmine - my OC pony.

Quickshot - Carmine's dad.

His mother died previous to the dramatic flashback, and will not be featured because I'm too lazy to make up another pony. Deal with it.

Now enjoy the story~

Hunter in the Woods - Carmine's Tale

Carmine sat in his rocking chair, looking through the window out at the forest that surrounded his home. His ragged black coat was nearly hidden in the darkness of his humble abode. The only thing that would alert others to his presence, had they been looking, would've been the dark red mane, tails, and eyes, for which his name derived from, although the dark cloak he wore for warmth made his tail and mane nearly invisible. He sighed, today had been another boring day, there were no animals in his traps, and he had been unlucky earlier, barely missing a doe he had shot at. It was getting late, the sun rolled slowly toward the horizon. Shadows grew bigger as the diurnal luminary was hidden by the towering pines. The myriad of fireflies was starting to gather outside, illuminating the near vicinity of his garret. From the light given off, vast shadows slowly gave way to glowing eyes, signs of the nocturnal creatures waking up. Sounds of animals beginning to scurry reached Carmine's ears, and soon enough, the first cry of the night was heard, a shrill cry that would've made other ponies' spines tingle. Carmine was used to it, living alone in the woods for nearly ten years... Well, not completely alone. The woods that he lived in could be considered a brother or sister figure to Carmine, what one would consider as intimidating tall trees merely brought relaxing thoughts to the black pony, as those protected him from his presence being known. He had learned all about the animals that lived in this forest from his experience living with them- he could name any animal based on what their footsteps sounded like. Living in his garret for all these years had made his ears accustomed to the sounds of the forest, and when something was out of key, his ear would flicker slightly, as it was currently doing. He smiled rather maliciously, a forced smile brought upon by the feelings he got upon hearing this sound, for every time he had heard this noise, he knew his life was going to finally get exciting.

With a yawn, breaking the solemn look that had previously covered his face, he slowly got onto his hooves, and made his way into the backroom of his cottage, a bright smile plastered upon his face. It was almost as bright as that one time his parents had taken him to that carnival in Manehattan, and won him that Wonderbolt plushie from the Dunk-a-pony game... Carmine violently shook his head, erasing the thought before it fermented, and made him lose track of what he was doing. Memories were bad for him, since his parents were dead... Just thinking about it made him even more hellbent on completing the mission he had previously assigned himself. He looked around the backroom, then fumbled across the walls...he really needed a new lantern. It was too dark, and every second wasted meant that the prey that had caught his attention was slowly getting away. He groped at the wall until his hoof smacked something that felt familiar and welcoming. He ran his hoof against the string, and knew it was his bow. It felt so natural when he was carrying it, like he was born to wield it. A sense of familiarity came over him as he pulled back on the string, he imitated shooting a bow at a boar that appeared in his mind, striking it just below the ear. He imagined it falling with a soft thud, its eyes rolling back into its head. Carmine smiled, he still had the same abilities as this morning, which was good at least. A soft yelp broke his stream of concentration, and brought him back into the darkness of reality. He really did need a new lantern, and it was only about a half day's walk into the nearest town... he could do it in good time tomorrow, if this mission didn't take too long. Had his prey already gotten away? He was spending a long time contemplating after all today for some unknown reason. Another violent shake of his head brought him back into thinking about what he had to do. He took a step forward, and let out a small yelp, something sharp piercing the skin of his back hoof. Stepping on knives apparently wasn't a good idea, who knew? Another head shake. "Focus, Carmine, stop losing your concentration over trivial things!" he spoke quietly to himself. He lowered his head and picked up the knife in his teeth, a taste of liquid iron splashed itself against his tongue, the beautiful feeling and taste of blood. Too bad it was his he would be tasting...for now, at least. With another sigh, mostly out of boredom for having to get prepared, he once again started feeling against the wall. Top priority tomorrow was seriously getting another lantern, he loathed having to fumble around a room in his own house. He finally came across what he was looking for - a small utility belt. Although being able to hold many of his tools, he only really used it for one simple reason; it made a beautiful knife holder... simple but useful. He grabbed his bow, and left his backroom quickly. After going to the window to see if his ear still flicked, which it did, his mind began to wander back to why he did all this...

He was going camping for the first time tonight, his father had promised this many years ago, and it only took about three years since the promise for his father to actually go through with it. Carmine was ecstatic, after all, he had never been camping before! He had helped prepare for the long journey, packing up the tent, some canned food, and other things his father had deemed necessary. His father has said that canned food wasn't really necessary, as he was going to teach Carmine how to hunt, and maybe earn his cutie mark when he got his first kill. The thought enticed Carmine...he was the only one in his class without a cutie mark adorning his flank. He hated being ridiculed, so any chance he got at earning a cutie mark was blissful in his young mind. The carriage ride to the brink of the forest had taken nearly five hours, very costly for two days of camping. The total came up to eighty five bits, which Quickshot happily paid. As the carriage was pulled away, Carmine and his dad wandered into the luscious forest. Wildlife jumped out before their eyes in every single direction, from squirrels digging around for nuts, to snakes hunting down the squirrels, it was exciting to see the natural cycle of life in such a place. Carmine was jumping, nearly imitating a jackhammer, except maybe a bit faster. It wasn't long until they found a somewhat decent clearing to set up camp. Although a rather small area, it was the only one nearby that could sustain the two tents. After successfully setting up his tent, after a rather embarrassing failure that resulted in one of the poles snapping back and catching him in the flank, his father was finally ready to teach him the proper etiquette of hunting. Quickshot pulled out his signature bow. It wasn't fancy, just a normal bow, that was given to him by his father. With ease, he loaded an arrow with his mouth, pulled back on the string, and let the arrow fly. The sound of wood splintering was picked up by Carmine's ears, as the arrow had pierced a nearby tree. His father looked at where the arrow had entered the tree, and nodded quickly. Turning to his son, he spoke quietly, "Your turn". Two simple words, Carmine had never felt this excited before. Nearly snapping the bow as he tore it from his father's hands, he loaded the arrow, and it promptly fell. Carmine swore softly under his breath, and tried again, and was met with the exact same results. His father gave a reassuring look, and Carmine tried once more. This time, the arrow actually stayed in position, with Carmine giving a squeal of excitement. Carmine pulled back on the bow, and released. The arrow flew up, and struck a bird below the wing, making the bird quickly fall over, dead. His father gave him a worried look, then started laughing. First shot, first kill. "Maybe you do have the skills to be a hunter!" he gaffed, Carmine beaming a look of bliss at his laughing father's face.

The rest of the day passed uneventfully, Carmine just couldn't seem to shoot anything else - on purpose or by accident. The only thing he managed to hit was his muzzle, after the arrow bounced back on an especially hard pull. Carmine was tired, after such a hard day of pulling back strings and fetching arrows. It was rather difficult, and the idea of sleep seemed like a fantasy, one that could actually be within his grasp, although grasping something with a hoof is quite a hard thing to do. His father had said something about foraging for berries for a sweet breakfast, but he wasn't really paying a yawn, he began to close his eyes. Then a scream woke him up. Was he asleep? No...this seemed to real. The black foal slumped out of his tent, wanting to find out where the scream came from, against his better judgement. He saw... his father behind a bush, with a pained look on his face. In front of him were two other ponies. One of them was... grey? It was hard to tell in the darkness. His mane and tail were pitch black, almost as dark as Carmine's coat. His cutie mark appeared to be... a bloody knife? The other one had a blue coat, and a sort of turquoise mane and tail. His cutie mark seemed to do with bits... that were most likely not his. Both of them were smiling and saying something about doing this the hard way. It was... scary, Carmine crept forward, intent on seeing what was really happening. Before he could get close, the grey one took out a knife, lurched forward, and impaled Quickshot right in the chest. He pulled out the knife, then stabbed again right underneath the previous mark, then repeated this process. Stab, pull back, stab, pull back, stab, pull back. Carmine looked on in absolute horror, this couldn't be happening, could it? No, this must be a nightmare...he whacked one of his hooves against the other, which gave out. With a thud, he hit the ground, the two other ponies looked over. With a grin that would've frozen a cockatrice, they waltzed over.

"Is that your father kid? Hehe, too bad he couldn't just pay up. I hate getting my hooves dirty!" the grey one stated, his voice trying to hide excitement.

"Yeah... but those bits he had are going to get us through the month, so you shouldn't feel too bad. At least your father died helping us!" exclaimed the blue one, chuckling as he said those words. Carmine had never been petrified before. Being scared was normal, but petrified? This was a new feeling. Carmine had felt like roots had grown from the ground and intertwined into his hooves, rendering him immobile as the eyes from the two other ponies assaulted his mind with fear. "This is it" was the only thing that kept flashing in his mind. "I'm going to die...right now" Carmine managed to do one movement - close his eyes. He could hear the hooves as they got closer and closer, finally stopping just in front of him.

Carmine felt a muzzle go against his ear, "today's your lucky day kid, you obviously don't have anything, so you're free to go!" the grey one proclaimed, "Enjoy your time in this forest!" With a quick push, he sent Carmine sprawling to the ground. "Now get out of here before I kill you, too!" the anger in his voice was imminent, spreading through the young foal's mind like cancer. "I said get!" He turned around and bucked Carmine, sending him flying at least five feet. This snapped Carmine out of a comatose state, and the black pony began running in the other direction, tears creating a river on his face. Hours passed, or was it minutes? It was too hard to tell how long he had been running. But when he saw what was ahead of him, a thought about this malevolent forest came to mind: Either the forest was a giant labyrinth determined to make him lost, or he had ran in circles, but either way, he had somehow ran to where it began. Usually, one wouldn't be able to tell such a thing, but a small pool of a red liquid being formed beside a pony lying down had given it away.

"Father?" Carmine cried out, rushing over to his father's side. Carmine looked up at the night sky, he still couldn't really believe what had happened. "Daddy, are you okay?" Carmine tapped his father's chest area lightly, quickly pulling back when some type of red liquid found it's way onto his hoof. He knew for a fact that his father wasn't okay, the lack of rising in his chest had violently hinted at such a thing, but Carmine just wanted to deny it. He wanted his father to wake up, to hold him in a loving embrace, to greet him every morning, say good night every night, but this was all lost. He kept prodding at his father, eventually, just maybe, his father would wake up. "Daddy, you have to be ok! You can't leave me like this!" cried Carmine, tears streaming down his face. This wasn't fair. None of this was fair. Who were those ponies? Why did they do such a thing? He snuggled up closer to his dead father, squirming a bit as the blood blotched across his pure black coat. He was...lying down in a pool of his father's blood, but he didn't mind. He was with his father, albeit for the last time. He nuzzled up against his father's neck, tears still streaming down his face. Time passed quickly after that. Had it been one hour? Two? It was too hard to tell. Carmine got up from his father's side, and walked back to the camp. He trotted into his father's tent, and looked around. He moved whatever he could find around, until his muzzle came to a bow. He gracefully picked up the bow, and some arrows, then turned around, and walked out of the tent. He looked around. Forest in every direction, no way of knowing which way home way. With a deep sigh, he walked forward, into the forest, never turning back again.

Carmine walked. How long? Who knows, time seemed to not move in this forest. It was almost like time had completely frozen, the moon refused to move throughout the night sky. It was rather ironic, this was supposed to be the One Thousandth Summer Sun Festival, yet it appeared that the moon had completely taken over the sky. Carmine shrugged, his mind was numb from all the trauma he had experienced today, all he wanted was a nice place to sleep. What was that? Carmine suddenly became alert. The trees seemed to be swaying violently, but there was no wind. It was almost as if they were...alive.

"No...that's just silly, trees can't actually be al-" Something whacked his flank. Carmine turned around, there was nothing there...except trees...Another whack from behind. Carmine jumped, the trees had to be alive! He galloped at full speed into...whatever this was. There were trees everywhere...all of them, forming faces, faces of agony and torture on every one of them. Where these...monsters? They inched closer, using their roots for movement. Carmine sped up, this couldn't be real...he needed to find a safe haven, this was too much. Suddenly, it was there! A...cottage, that had appeared from literally nowhere? That couldn't be safe...but anything had to be safer then outside! The trees seemed to swarm him the closer he got to the cottage, quickly changing from feet to inches away. Right at the end, he could feel their branches grabbing him, but with one last jump, he managed to hit the door, and knocked it open. Carmine's eyes darted around the room, it seemed safe...definitely safer than outside. He turned around, and closed the door before those...things could get in. Then a noise came from behind him, almost like... a growl. He slowly turned around, to see brumous shapes of a familiar silhouette.

His heart began to pound like hundreds of drums in a parade when the shape sharpened into a pony; the blue pony that helped murdered his father. His flank was adorned by the familiar bit cutie mark, his eyes portraying the same expression of cruel irony and bloodthirstiness as he did earlier. His fight or flight response took over, flight prevailing over his other option. He quickly turned back, and opened the door. The swaying of the trees reminded him that he was stuck between hell and hell, no chance to escape the torturous feelings that these dryads were radiating, and no chance to fight against the abomination that was slowly pacing towards him. His only chance was to at least try to fight, even if it meant dying. In a sudden emanation of fury, being guided by the screams of revenge, his hoof lifted the bow, loaded an arrow, and released the pressure from pulling back on the string. The arrow was freed and soared towards this enemy that he had recently met. It entered the blue one's flesh, and came to a complete halt. A sharp yelp of pain escaped from it's quivering mouth. He quickly tore the arrow free, and threw it to the ground, a fresh pool of blood slowly forming from a stream on his lower neck. He looked down and grimaced, a scowl plastered on his face. He looked over at Carmine, and galloped right at him. Carmine let his instincts take over, he closed his eyes, and as swiftly as his hooves could manage, he loaded his bow back up, and released another arrow. This one hit with a soft crack, a small thud echoed in the cottage, followed by quick irregular sounding gasps of breathing. Carmine didn't want to, but he slowly opened his eyes. Sprawled out in front of him, laid the blue earth pony, another arrow protruding out of his neck. It had struck right through the wind pipe. The blue one's eyes were emitting looks of fear, as darkness slowly took him. Carmine watched, absolutely petrified, as the eyes slowly closed, and the breathing stopped altogether. He had killed somepony out of vengeance...his train of thoughts got derailed as he felt something different on his flank. He gave a look back, and saw that a cutie mark had somehow found it's way on him, a bow and arrow, with a blood soaked tip. Was killing his special talent? It seemed to come easily, he had taken down a fully grown stallion in two shots. Something was wrong with this, but his mind couldn't grasp him, it was more focused on the pool of blood that was slowly trickling it's way in a neat little stream towards his hoof, almost appearing to be drawn to it, sort of like the way moths were drawn to the lamps that adorned the streets at night. It was a rather sickening sight, but for some reason...it felt right to the black foal. With the threat of imminent danger gone, Carmine finally looked around the cottage. It was mostly empty, except for a table with a bloody knife on it, and a rocking chair that faced the window. With a sigh, he walked over to a corner, and lied down. He vowed that he would stay here until the grey one came by...and he'll get his revenge. With this thought in his mind, he closed his eyes, and slowly let the darkness engulf him.

Carmine narrowly avoided running into a tree, with a swift left jump. He was accustomed to run while he was in deep thoughts about what had happened nearly a decade ago. He had sworn to himself that this forest was his family now, and anyone that entered into it without his consent was a direct threat to it. He could not let it happen...not until the grey one died. He had gotten somewhat of a good look at the pony he was chasing, and had seen that he was indeed grey, but that meant nothing yet. It was the cutie mark that meant everything to him. A quick right jump helped him to avoid another tree. The other pony was just keeping ahead of him, most likely unaware of the black stallion trailing him. Carmine enjoyed these moments; just him, the brisk night air, and the hunting of an unsuspecting prey, like a snake and a mouse. It was usually too easy to kill anypony that came into these woods, but it was trifling, for keeping his family safe was his main priority.

"Let's start the fun...", Carmine whispered to himself, not attempting to hide the fervor in his voice. He didn't want to alert the prey to his presence, that would make everything harder; and less satisfying... He slowly lifted up his right forearm towards the brown leather holster he wore on the left of his back and pulled out an arrow. His right hoof was holding his bow. Carmine loaded the bow and pulled the string, targeting the grey pony, and released it, launching the projectile. It landed with a splintering sound; he missed. Today was Carmine's unlucky day, as it appeared that the grey one had heard the arrow. He turned around and saw Carmine. He had a very rough mane, almost appearing to be in knots. His face was full of cuts and bruises, some of them bleeding, it was evident he had run into some trouble, most likely at the losing end of a fight.

This was going to be an easy prey. He quickly loaded another arrow into his bow, and shot it at the grey pony, who seemed to be mesmerized by the thought of another pony chasing him down. The arrow stroke right below the chest, eliciting a cry of pain and finally broke his trance. The grey pony turned around and started galloping away from his pursuer. Carmine galloped, following his prey, in the intention of finishing of the pony. Despite his efforts in keeping up to the grey one, the trespasser was not in his line of sight anymore. Carmine stopped and looked down, noticing blood drops from the wounded pony. He walked without haste, guided by the fresh fluid. He preferred harboring his forces, knowing that the pony is losing his. The stallion soon caught sight of the grey pony. He loaded another arrow into the bow, pulled back the string, and released it. The arrow hit the grey pony in the flank. He stumbled and fell on the ground. The pony tripped, and within seconds, Carmine had closed the distance to a few meters. Carmine's hoof reached for his leather sheath, grabbed the handle of his knife and pulled it out. The curved blade was shaped from an obsidian rock. Blackened blood was covering its surface. Thin strings of various colors embellished the handle, wrapped up around it. Each string was of a different color; it was unique.

"This was too easy...", Carmine whispered to himself in a quite disappointed tone; he wanted more of a challenge. He jumped on the pony, sliding the knife into his chest. A loud scream of pain filled the forest, frightening nearby animals into fleeing; the foliage of trees and bushes shivered.

"-What business do you have in these woods?" yelled Carmine at the pony.

-I...I was j...just passing through!" the grey one stuttered in a weak voice.

Carmine's eyes widened while looking at the pony's flank seeing the familiar shape of a bloody knife on it, the exact one he saw ten years ago. For more than a decade, the stallion was waiting for this encounter, staying in this dreaded forest, waiting patiently for the murderer.

"-You...you're the one that killed my father!, the black stallion murmured in a spit of hate mixed with sadistic pleasure. He knew he would be savouring this sweet victory.

"B...but I've n...never killed a...anypony before..." The grey one's voice was obviously faltering, the blood loss was really starting to take it's toll. Carmine took the knife out and stabbed him once again below the previous wound, enjoying the wet sound that was coming from the knife entering the body. The grey one emitted a horrible guttural scream which was immediately drowned in rumbling. The pony coughed violently, trying to catch his breath, as blood was being expelled out of his muzzle. The hunter violently plunged his knife into the ground beside the pony, and screamed: "LIAR!" Carmine knew it, it was so evident; the grey one was acting innocent. In a last ditch attempt at trying to come off as just a normal traveller, to escape his wrath, to escape what he deserved...he'd get away though, but not for long, for justice always punishes the guilty. Carmine smiled as a fiendish thought fermented in his mind. His right hoof reached for the handle of his precious knife and pulled it out of the log. He grabbed the pony's left forearm with his free hoof and approached the blade. The grey pony looked, petrified:

"No, don't do this!"

Carmine remained silent, the tension between the two ponies was growing. He noticed that the grass under the grey pony was stained by urine. He was sweating and silently sobbing. For a mere moment, Carmine considered showing mercy and letting him go but he shook this idea out of his head immediately after it appeared. Carmine waited ten years for revenge, he could not let this opportunity slip out of his hooves. The blade of his knife sunk into the pony's skin. Blood began to soak the ground as it poured out of the wound. He was sawing the hoof in a back-and-forth movement with the blade until the blade meets the pony's bones. The hunter pulls out the knife and cuts the flesh all around the bone. The grey stallion was in tears at the pain. Carmine took the other forearm, and repeated the same actions.

"Let's see you if you can escape with only two hooves, killer!", ironically said Carmine. He took his knife and cut off some hair from the dark mane of his victim. He took it in his hoof and wrapped it around the handle of his knife.

"A few more to my collection", says Carmine, satisfied. As he was about to finish off the pony, the black stallion heard the roar of a Manticore.

"Hope you enjoy getting eaten alive!" Carmine yelled, his voice bubbling with even more excitement then before. The grey one was speechless, nothing he could say would affect that black stallion's decision. He turned his eyes towards the ground, letting his tears form a small puddle underneath his muzzle, and he closed his eyes, waiting for the inevitable. Carmine trotted away back into the direction of his cottage. Behind him, he could hear the footsteps of what he presumed was the Manticore walking up to the nearly dead pony. The sound of sniffing filled the air. Then a blood-curling scream, as the first bite was taken, filled the forest. Even though he had heard animals getting torn apart very often in his existence, this was...different. It sent shivers down Carmine's spine. Another scream protruded the night sky, this one even worse then the last. Carmine stood still, his hooves refused to move, petrification took over his body like a cockatrice had frozen him in place. The sound of blood gurgling in a throat took over the scream, as the grey pony was breathing his last few breaths. The sound of a mouth making an entrance into the pony and of a Manticore hungrily feasting snapped him out of this trance. Being a dessert did not sound too appetizing, to him, at least. He quickly galloped back in the direction of his cottage, without looking back.

Carmine looked up at the sky, it was a rather beautiful night. He never really stared up at the sky to take in it's beauty, but tonight was a night of peace. His entire body was at peace, for the first time in nearly ten years. A boyish grin grew on his face, he could swear he saw his father looking down at him from the stars, with a smile on his face...it was nice. A thought quickly made it's way to the front of his mind.

"What am I doing to do now that I've completed my life goal?" He thought aloud. This put Carmine into a deep thought...he never thought about what he would do if he managed to do what he promised himself. There was a beautiful city that was about a 4 days walk from here that he could learn to settle into. Things couldn't have changed that much in ten years, could they? With a smile, Carmine chucked the knife as far as he could into the dense forest. He grabbed his bow, and set out towards Manehattan, if he picked the right way at least. This forest has a way for making ponies lose their sense of direction. The only thought that was now on Carmine's mind though, was that life was going to get better.

The End

Gotta give credit where it's due:

To my editors! MadJedi, Es337, and Angelhood101.3

Images: Es337(Es is the best pony)

Pre-readers:...Uh, I guess the Kongregate room: "Purple Haze", and a few friends from MSN3

Just to make things clear: When the trees were going crazy? Carmine was going through so much trauma, his mind failed to reason with reality, and he had violent hallucinations.


End file.
